“Check the Soil Before You Plant”: Cultural Readiness in Project Management
Many project managers are taught to follow structure—business cases, initiation documents, plans—but struggle when their organization resists this approach. In some cultures, formal project methods are seen as bureaucracy rather than enablers. Heroic chaos is rewarded over collaboration and control. Before rolling out tools and training, leaders must assess cultural readiness. Using models like the Project Management Maturity Model helps gauge whether an organization values transparency, planning, and accountability. Without this alignment, well-intended projects fail—not due to poor planning, but because the cultural “soil” can’t support the method. Culture, not method, is often the real barrier to success.
Instead of collaboration, they face resistance.
Instead of clear governance, they find ambiguity.
Instead of being thanked for bringing structure, they are accused of “adding bureaucracy.”
This disconnect isn’t a failure of method — it’s a mismatch of culture.
️ The Culture Clash: Project Tools vs. Organizational DNA
Project management is often framed as a neutral skillset — but it is deeply cultural. Structured PM relies on values like:
Transparency (sharing risks and progress)
Accountability (committing to timelines and deliverables)
Prioritization (choosing what not to do)
Planning and documentation (slowing down to speed up)
Yet some organizations thrive on ambiguity. They reward heroics over systems. They elevate informal networks and status over written priorities. In such organizations, initiatives are frequently driven by personality, pet projects, and politics rather than logic, evidence, or strategy.
As Cameron & Quinn’s Competing Values Framework suggests, cultures vary:
Clan cultures value relationships and consensus.
Adhocracies value innovation and agility.
Market cultures value competition and results.
Hierarchies value control and order.
Each of these types responds differently to project management. A hierarchical culture may love Gantt charts and RACI matrices. An adhocracy may find them stifling.
When Project Management Fails Not Because of Projects, But Because of Culture
Research supports this. The Standish Group CHAOS Report consistently finds that “lack of user involvement,” “unclear objectives,” and “poor executive support” are leading causes of project failure — all cultural issues rather than technical ones.
In one case I worked on (disguised for confidentiality), a public-sector digital transformation project failed to get off the ground, not because the business case or tech stack was flawed, but because no senior sponsor would commit in writing to the benefits. Everyone liked the idea in theory, but culturally, “writing it down” was seen as an exposure to risk rather than a route to alignment.
The result? A burned-out PM, demotivated team, and years of stalled progress.
Project Maturity Models: A Diagnostic Tool, Not a Badge
Before deploying project methodologies, tools like the Project Management Maturity Model (PMMM) or Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) can help assess whether the soil is fertile.
Key questions:
Do senior leaders support structured delivery?
Are projects aligned to strategy or personalities?
Is documentation trusted or seen as bureaucracy?
Are lessons learned reviewed and applied?
Are cross-functional teams enabled or siloed?
If the answer to most of these is no, then giving teams “tools and templates” without addressing cultural readiness is like handing someone a spade and expecting a forest.
What to Do Instead
If your organization isn’t culturally ready for formal project methods:
1. Start with Change Readiness: Use models like Kotter’s 8 Steps or ADKAR to build urgency, alignment, and sponsorship.
2. Map the Informal Culture: As per Edgar Schein’s iceberg model, most culture is hidden: habits, values, unspoken norms.
3. Introduce “Lightweight PM”: Adapt your methods to fit. Use Trello instead of MS Project. Conversations instead of charters.
4. Use Pilots, Not Programs: Demonstrate value in microcosm before rolling out broadly.
5. Build Cultural Bridges: Find allies who get both the “formal” and “informal” language of your organization.
Final Thought: Don’t Set People Up to Fail
Giving staff PM training and tools in a culture that actively resists structure is like asking a fish to climb a tree. You are not empowering them — you’re setting them up for frustration, stress, and burnout.
Before you roll out governance frameworks or capability models, understand the cultural terrain. Then tailor your approach — just like a gardener chooses different seeds for different soils.
Otherwise, your well-trained PMs won’t be managing projects.
They’ll be managing dysfunction.
Further Reading
Standish Group (2020). CHAOS Report
Cameron & Quinn (2011). Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture
Edgar Schein (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership
Kerzner (2005). Using the Project Management Maturity Model
PMI (2013). Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3)